1 HEAR this, O priests; and give ear, O house of Israel; and listen, O house of the king; for the judgment is for you, because you have been a snare to prophets and a net spread upon Tabor.

2 And the hunters who hunt have laid hidden snares, but I will chastise them all.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now Ephraim has committed whoredom, and Israel is defiled.

4 Their evil devices will not permit them to turn to their God; for the spirit of whoredom is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

5 And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his presence; and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him, because he has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They have dealt falsely with the LORD, for they have begotten alien children.

8 Blow the trumpet in Ramtha, blow the horn in Ramtha; cry aloud at Beth-aon; the enemy is after you, O Benjamin.

9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the clay of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel I have made known that which shall surely be.

10 The princes of Judah were like those who remove a landmark; therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly went after vain things.

12 Therefore I will be as a tempest to Ephraim, and to the house of Judah as a lion.

13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wounds, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king; but he cannot heal you nor cure you of your wounds.

14 For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue.

15 I will return and go to my place, till they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.